#*wits

“Miss Grayson?”

Amanda felt a small hand tugging at her skirt. Tearing her gaze away from the very animated tour guide who held the rapt attention of the rest of her third-grade class, she looked down to see a mess of blonde curls and a pair of huge, pleading brown eyes. She was nearly as interested to hear what the guide had to say as the children, but she smiled down at him and said, “Yes, Micah?”

The child hissed “Igottagotothebathroom” through semi-clenched teeth without pausing between words. Amanda almost laughed, not at the antsy little boy but at the urgent and earnest way he delivered the information. “All right, buddy. We’ll find one. Hold on for a just few more seconds.”

She didn’t want to interrupt their tour or call Micah out in front of his classmates by announcing his needs to everyone else. Besides, there were only so many places for a group of twenty nine-year-olds to get lost in the heart of the government district of downtown San Francisco. They were all pretty good kids, and they were listening very attentively despite the somewhat dry subject matter. In the classroom, Amanda sometimes struggled to engage them about such riveting subjects as the Charter of 2161, but field trips imbued almost anything with some magic. So she took Micah’s hand, saying in a conspiratorial whisper, “Come on. I kind of have to go, too,” which made him grin just like she’d hoped it would.

The Federation Council building happened to be the one nearest to them. After just a moment of hesitation and second-guessing herself, Amanda marched inside, Micah in hand, with more confidence than she felt. Fortunately, the lobby was bright, airy, and somewhat empty. When she inquired at the reception desk, a polite middle-aged woman pointed them in the right direction with no judgment. She felt silly to have worried. Weren’t they Federation citizens? Why shouldn’t they be able to pop in here for a bathroom break?

As they washed their hands in the bathroom, Amanda noticed that her student’s reflection looked suddenly glum. “Why the long face?” she asked. Micah shrugged.

“Aren’t you having fun?” 

Another shrug. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hey...you were so excited to come!” Amanda crouched down so she could look him in the eye at his own level. Like approximately half of her students both past and present, Micah was convinced that he would not only work in outer space when he grew up but that he’d someday attend Starfleet Academy and subsequently captain a starship. “What’s wrong?”

The boy gave a furtive glance around the empty bathroom, chewing his bottom lip. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “It’s just...we haven’t even seen any aliens here,” he said. “No Andorians...nobody!”

Fighting the urge to laugh again, she nodded. A smile spread slowly over her face. “No...but the day isn’t even half over yet! Don’t give up hope that easily, starman.”

Micah looked skeptical, but he considered her words and then nodded too. “Okay.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Now let’s go find everybody else...before they leave us behind!” He was almost out the door before she could even stand up straight, and she finally gave herself permission to laugh softly. Moments like that made teaching worth it. She crossed her fingers in hopes that Micah’s wish for an alien sighting would come true.

Maybe that innocent superstition worked too well. As she emerged into the sunny lobby, she heard Micah exclaim: “Miss Grayson, Miss Grayson, you were right!” He was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement. She followed his gaze to a group of three tall, dark-haired men in long robes standing several yards away, and her eyes widened. There were his aliens, sure enough, but they weren’t Andorians—and she didn’t think they would be very amenable to being interrupted by an exuberant human child.

Before she could say so, however, or even reach for his hand again, Micah dashed eagerly in their direction. “Micah, no!” she breathed. The color drained from her face. Seeing no other solution, she took off after him.

Micah had made a beeline for the man standing somewhat apart from his companions but stopped short of running headlong into him. Intimidation had won out over his curiosity at the last second. He was just a little boy, after all. But Amanda, being considerably taller, was less lucky. Even as she realized that Micah had stopped and tried to do likewise, her momentum carried her farther—right into the robed figure in front of them.

Amanda’s cheeks flamed bright red with embarrassment, and she stumbled back. “I am so sorry,” she said in a rush. When she lifted her bright blue eyes to his face, her words died on her lips. “I was just...”

Of course she’d seen Vulcans before, though mostly in passing or on film, and like many girls, she found their exotic features rather attractive. This man was at least ten or fifteen years younger than any picture she’d ever seen, much less any she had encountered in person. He was also cute. Well, maybe cute wasn’t the right word, especially since she’d just tripped right into him, which was probably much more offensive to Vulcan sensibilities than a human child doing so. If so, well, it was too bad that she wasn’t a nine-year-old boy, and she refused to be intimidated. So she straightened up to her full five-foot-four, lifted her chin, and gave the handsome young Vulcan her most dazzling smile.

“I apologize. My student’s never met an outworlder, and he got pretty excited. Say hello, Micah.”

“H-hi,” Micah squeaked from behind her.